Miss Mabel Studio

Linda April 18th, 2007

 

 

Cat doll project Summer 2007

The beginnings of another project.

   front shot of cat (2007)

I sculpted this from different clay than I am used to, it was Diamond Paper Clay.  I am not sure if I like it as well as the Creative Paper Clay that I was using.  It feels gritty and I think there is some shrinkage. 

   side shot of Cat  

     side shot of cat (painted)

I learned on line that if I take a picture of my doll “before” I seal it the glare–even though I use matte sealer–is not an issue,

    Front face of Cat (painted)

  with new body and hair

Her hair is from a vintage fur coat.  It is probably rabbit.   

   with her arms added (o.k. well pinned on.) 

I decided to make her a “stump” doll.  She is weighted with marbles and is approx. 21 inches tall.  Her arms are pinned on at this point because I am considering beading them and it would be alot easier to do this with her arms off rather than on!!!! I steer towards using vintage fabrics and trims in my dolls but the new animal print was so perfect for her.  She looks ethnic to me and I am thinking about doing her with an african theme but that may change as the doll lets me know what “she” wants!!

 Dress–so far

I originaly wanted her to look tribal, then I changed my mind and decided on an Empire looking dress–so this is it so far.  I used batiks for the skirt and over skirt.  It does not show up well but I pichot stitched around the top skirt.  The bodice is a striped fabric that I beaded in spots randomly. I have stitched everything on–no glues.   

 

                     front   back      side 

The final product.  Yes, that is a “door” on the bottom of her skirt.  It is from this wonderful door and window fabric I got awhile ago….what does it mean?  I am sure that she will tell me when the time comes.  There are chains accross her shirt with vintage black glass buttons and a beaded collar.  I was recently watching “Dune” (the one with Sting-sigh) and again was inspired by the clothes hence the collar/extreme wide lapels.  I added her black “claws” last.  I had not added finger nails before and asked for input online–got alot of good ideas and the one that fit her the best was to use plastic forks.  Cut the ends off, use a dremel to file round and again use the dremel to make base of the “claws” flatter so they don’t stick up too high.  I am quit pleased with how she turned out.  She has no name and again I am waiting on that–as well as her story.  Sometimes my dolls aren’t very talkative.

 Faun Project 2007

    Faun Head on shot

This is a head that I sculpted this year (2007) and have as yet to do anything with it.  My intention was for him to look like a faun, but it is hard to not make something look “devilish” with horns on it’s head.  I also noticed that one of his eyes is cock-eyed, sigh.  I have an idea to make an eye patch to go over it.  The trouble is I cannot decide if I want to make him a marionette, a doll with goat legs or even a rod puppets.  As you can see, I don’t always have a clear idea of what I am going to do with some “head” once I have made it. He really has not spoken to me clearly what he wants to be, so he sits on my art desk waiting to get my attention.  

  Faun Head Side shot

 

 

   Fairy Tale Project 2007

  I am a member of a local doll making group–the other members have a tendency to be conservative in thier tastes–I on the other hand have a tendency to “push-the-envelope”.  Our group decided in Feb of 2007 to do another doll challenge.  The idea is to do a doll inpired by a fairy tale.  When I considered what doll I wanted to make, I knew right away that I did not want one that had been made time and time again (i.e. Cinderella, Snow White, Puss-in-Boots etc.)  When I stumbled onto the Bros Grimm story of “Little One Eye, Little Two Eye and Little Three Eye,” I KNEW that this was the story for me. Below you will find documentation of the dolls’ creative process.

 

 I decided that I wanted the “girls” to be rod puppets.  Since I know NOTHING about how these are made (that has never stopped me before) I wrote a lot of notes and stetched out my blue print for them.  Here are the girls after I have sculpted thier heads and thier main rod has been added.  I had to make the eyes myself since I did not have access to the right size.  I have brown eyes and wonder why almost all of my dolls have blue eyes–is it because that is what I see on other people????  

 

 This is One Eye after I have added her arm rod and neck.  Under the cross joint I used construction putty to stablize the joint.  I make my dolls to last.  She freaks out my kids–they say she look like a cyclops–well, what would you expect?????

 

 Here she is with her body attached.  I used old cotton sheeting, slipped it up over the rods, stuffed and closed the shoulders.       

 

One Eye now has her arms.  I was originaly invisioning using cloth for the arms but decided to use dowels. I used eye hooks and jump rings to attached all the pieces.  This will allow for a lot of movement in the arms. 

 

  Here she is with her face painted.  I first sanded the doll’s head till it was smooth, added 2 to 3 coats of white gesso–sanding this till there were no visable brush marks–acrylic paints on top of that, matte sealer and finally I added diamond glaze onto the eyes and lips for added depth. 

 

 Here is Three Eyes with her “slip” on.  It is made out of an old pillow case..that is the crocheted edging that can been seen.  I like the feel of old well worn cottons.  Yes, I did use yellow pom poms for her chest.     

 

  When I put the dress on her, the arms looked too stick like and the shoulders were too pointie and sharp.  I did not like how it looked.  So I then decided to wrap her arms with cotton quilt batting.    

 

 

 The background is now done thanks to my father-in-law.  He was so cute…he was excited to be asked to do this project, and when I went to show him the plans, he had been thinking alot about it and had some very good suggestions of his own.  He had it done in 3 days!!!  The base of the piece is 2 feet wide and the tree is 2 feet tall–10 inches wide.  It is made out of pine.  There are 3 holes drilled on the bottom to hold the dolls. 

 

Here you can see the girls dressed.  Two Eyes needs hair (which I have to special order).  I will then paint the tree and stand.  My idea is to buy some small leafed garland and glue leaves to the tree.  I then need to make apples to put in the tree and in Two Eye’s hand.  I think the last thing I will do is to attach the sticks to the hands–but as with all good projects…things can change!

 

This is the tree after I painted it.  I glued on leaves (actually a fake rose bush–the size was right for the scale) and then make paper clay apples for the tree and for Two Eye’s hands.      

 

 

All three girls in place.  I dyed Two Eye’s hair with tumeric (a spice).  It came out yellow but……………….it rubs off after it dries….ARGH!!!!!!!!!  So I have had to seal her hair. They now need their “sticks” added to their hands and I am toying with the idea of adding some jewelry onto One Eye and Two Eyes.      

 

            

Here are the final pictures of the “girls”.  You can see the back of the “set”.  I added little divets so the sticks could rest on them, and be a bit neater.  My 9 year old daughter, Mimi is playing with Two Eyes.  After all that’s what they are made for right??     

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